A Study Of Debating Strategies Used In American Presidential Debate From The Perspective Of Appraisal System

Debate is a multi-lateral interaction rich in strategic language, and it aims atpersuading and influencing the opposite sides. Different from general conversation, itis prominent in purpose-oriented and attacking language. Therefore, debating languageis decorated with extensive use of techniques and strategies, which makes it one of thebest text types for the study of linguistic strategy application.The2012American presidential election was held between the incumbentpresident Obama and the Republican candidate Romney. The results of the threedebates is like a documentary showing how we can learn from Obama’s change ofdebating strategies that helps him turn the table of his first debate failure. After havinghis Waterloo in his first debate, Obama changes his application of debating strategies,wins the second one by a small margin and at last accomplishes a total victory in hisfinal one. The swift changes of debating strategies and controversial issue brainstormmake it a perfect material for debating language study.Appraisal Theory proposed by Martin sets out to evaluate stances, points of viewand attitudes of speaker holds with regards to the things he or she talks about by meansof language analysis. It is applied in the research of American presidential debate tounveil the actual meaning and ultimate purposes hidden behind the language the twocandidates utter in the debates. In this way, debating strategies and strategiesadjustments of the two candidates are concluded.The thesis is conducted in the method of qualitative analysis. All the analysis isbased on the transcripts of the three debates of2012American presidential election.With reference to the knowledge of general debating strategies, presidential debatestrategies are classified and summarized. Meanwhile, through the study of2012presidential debate transcripts, the adopted debating strategies are sorted out andstrategies adjustments of each candidate are obtained. Furthermore, an exclusiveanalysis of Obama’s debating performances will be conducted to witness his changesin strategy selection and application. Based on the transcripts and research methods stated above, the thesis tries toconclude how to make language more powerful and purpose-oriented through thestudy of strategic feature of language in special conversation setting so as to makecommunication more effective. Based on the thesis, the author hopes to explore how tomake language an effective tool to declare stances, speak out opinions, influence others,convey ideas and promote interpersonal communication.